Fate: Sword Hero
by RaininCatsNDogs
Summary: He was dead yet why was he here? In a bleak world tormented by Waves Of Calamity, a new Hero would rise. This was not the tale of a Shield but of a Sword. A Sword with one aim. To save this world. He would do it even if it would cost him his life. Such was the path of a Hero of Justice riddled with difficulties and adversaries but he would tread this road, it was his only Salvation
1. Prologue-A New World?

**Fate: Sword Hero**

**Prologue:**

**A New World?**

I was dying.

I was on a cold deserted mountain with wounds that would ones from The Fifth Holy Grail War to shame. I was covered in blood from head to toe, whether it be mine or the ones that tried to slay me. I had been found to be dabbling in the forbidden magecraft known as a **Reality Marble**. is one that centres around the materialization and projection of one's inner world onto reality following the Thaumaturgical Theory **World Egg**. Originally, it was an ability that daemons have as their **Alien Common Sense**, but some people such as The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors and the greatest of magi like Solomon have made this ability available to use through a long time. It was a magecraft that was so close to the 3rd True Magic: **Heaven's Feel**, that it wasn't even funny. A reality marble at its core was the materialization of one's true inner inner self, that is the soul onto the world. It was a magecraft so inhumane that only 6 humans had ever achieved it and all had one thing in common. They had died at an early age because they had such radical personalities that it could not be considered human. Now finding a somewhat sane user of a reality marble was like hitting a jackpot that was a lucky draw ticket on which was another entry slip that would let you enter a lottery and then only would you get a real jackpot. Case in point; Myself. As soon as I had been found out, I was immediately 'awarded' a Sealing Designation of the highest order. I had to run away from my family and my loved ones so as to not to put them in harm's way.

I was overrun with several magi and executors. I had to fend off they alone with me killing over 400 people. I did not like it but it had to be done because if I was captured there was a high chance I would lead to a pathway to Akasha and should an evil person gain access to True Magic, the consequences would be disastrous

As I lay there, my disheveled form was covered by the Holy Shroud Of George, a powerful magic artefact, a majestic white cape with golden linings which was now stained red. It was originally Saint George's Shroud which had attained some of the defensive properties of **Ascalon: The Blessed Sword By Which Force is Slain. **It protected me against major injuries but it was clear that I was dead no matter what.

Inside of me, **Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia **was using all its power to try and heal my injuries. Avalon by itself was a Divine Mystery on par with True Magic. It was THE Ultimate Defence Noble Phantasm. Most of those conditions were reserved for its original owner but I was an exception. The effect was lower for me though but still potent enough. Still it mattered not. I was as good as dead. But still there one last question that lingered in my mind.

'_Have I become a Hero, Kiritsugu?'_

With that the man known as Emiya Shirou died.

.

.

.

Or did he?

* * *

Where was he?

A Ritual Circle lay below his feet. A golden and majestic sword in his hand. He saw men wearing cassocks, who he presumed were priest stare at him. Then the priest in the centre stepped forward and said

"Welcome Four Heroes. Please save our world"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Well, this going to amazing. I feel this project, amongst all, has the most potential.**

**Please rate and especially, please give constructive criticism in the form of reviews.**

**Thank you for reading.**


	2. Chapter 1-Explanations and Revelations

**Fate: Sword Hero**

**Chapter 1:**

**Explanations and Revelations**

The first thing I had noticed upon my arrival from the summoning ritual was that I was holding a sword. Ok, that might seem like a pretty normal statement for me. What had my life become that I'd actually think that holding a sword was normal for me? That's beside the point, the sword I was holding in all rights could be considered on par with Excalibur in terms of beauty. The sword was made of the finest of gold, it radiated a soothing light. There was a large blue gem in the centre of its hilt. The hilt had the perfect number of grooves to function with strong grip. It was well balanced and had the perfect weight and a perfect ratio (For him) between speed and power. Overall it was one of the finest blades I had seen (believe me that i had seen a lot of weapons). But that was not what was shocking. It was the fact that the sword was a FREAKING Divine Construct. Its power was literally immeasurable but had been subdued by thousands of seals making it more or less normal steel blade or even worse. There were so many that it made my head hurt. As I tried to Structurally Analyze the blade, I found it was empty. It had no history. Every blade he had encountered had a history even if it was unused he would still be able to 'read' its forging process even if it was Divine Construct (Except EA which was a blade that existed before the genesis of the universe) even if he was unable to recreate it, but this sword was literally blank. This had 2 implication: - first that it was never created but existed much like the aforementioned Enuma Elish or that someone had deliberately erased its history and since I could still have a rough idea of the blade and the fact that I was able to grasp its structure meant that it was not like EA. That left the latter option open. Still I could not jump to conclusions.

Next had been the fact that I was not summoned alone. I had been summoned alongside 3 other people. The first one I saw had blonde hair and an air of arrogance around him. He held beautiful spear of gold and white touches. It was a dual spear with two sharpened blades, one for each side. One end held an alluring red gem fitted inside it. It was also a Divine Construct. I had saved a primitive blueprint of his spear in my Reality Marble even if I was unable to replicate it. He reminded me a lot of Gilgamesh but a little less overbearing. I had considered him to be on the 'To watch out for' list. Gilgamesh, from the first time I had met him, was unpredictable. In a fight, he was a black sheep amongst a herd of white ones, that is easy to predict but in terms of other action, I had a better chance of winning the lottery than guessing his next move. If the blonde was even remotely like Gilgamesh, I'd have to be careful.

Next was a boy with a bow. He was a mature youth. He looked quite fragile from his body build. I wondered how he'd even be able to pull the bow. But then again Saber was also fragile-looking but damn did she pack a punch. My eyes then fell onto his bow. In that moment I rediscovered what it meant to love. Ok, maybe not but still. The bow he held was truly amazing, even more than Archer's black bow. It too was gold in colour with white as finishing touches. It too had a yellow gem fitted into its handle. It was also a Divine Construct. I saved its blueprint too.

Last but not the least was a young man with a slim build, fairly sharp features and black hair which spikes in all directions. He seemed the most unimpressive amongst the bunch but also the most normal. He was sort of in my good books for now. But still, never judge a book by its cover. He held a shield which too was beautiful in its own right but also seemed unimpressive. It was a bland colour of silver with a green gem fitted in the centre of it. It too was a Divine Construct. I saved its blueprint too.

There was also the fact that I had been changed out of my combat gear in which I 'died' into my normal attire. This meant I had probably lost my combat suit and that it was stolen. Though thankfully I could still feel the presence of Avalon inside my body. It was my one and only True Noble Phantasm, not a fake but real. I was broken out of my musings by the priest.

"You must have many questions, but time is short. You are the chosen Heroes, summoned here by an ancient ritual."

"Currently, this world is teetering on the edge of destruction. We pray to you, please, lend us your power!"

The robed man bowed.

Before I could even process what he had said, the Spear Hero immediately retorted,

"Don't you guys have any shame at all, suddenly dragging us here without our permission?"

Now that was rude and uncalled for. As I had suspected the blonde was egotistical and uncaring for others much like Gilgamesh. I stayed quiet and observed. I was in an unknown area, in an unknown situation and surrounded by unknown people. The instincts I had honed across by travels as a mercenary and part-time executor had been flaring. I had to keep quiet else I would be caught in a cross-fire, especially if what I was speculating was correct.

While the other Heroes were busy arguing and lashing out at their summoners (the Spear and Bow Heroes) or looking completely confused and lost (the Shield Hero), I was investigating the Summoning Circle. It looked highly reminiscent of the ones used in the Holy Grail Wars. though I was confident there was no Holy Grail else I would be provided with such information. But one thing was sure, probably. This Ritual connected to the Throne of Heroes in Akasha. That meant that I, upon my death, had somehow managed to reach the Throne and was called here.

This news was troubling implications. One, the priests may have set up a system like the Command Seals to subdue rogue Heroic Spirits. This absolutely meant that I had to provide them with the utmost respect. But from the looks of it, it was unlikely. The part of the Circle that linked Command Spells to the Heroic Spirits was missing (courtesy of Rin, who had taught him a lot about Formalcraft and Rituals, though he'd prefer to forget about the last

(*Cough*). That meant that there were no Command Spells to begin with but you could never be too careful.

The second was that the other heroes could be Heroic Spirits. Most of them seemed Japanese meant that they had a higher possibility of being Japanese Heroic Spirits. This would be highly troublesome since Iwas quite weak when compared to other Heroic Spirits. I was confident that he'd be able to match an Assassin but the rest, No Chance. Should I ever fight these Heroes, I'd be in big trouble. This meant he'd again have to be careful since there was no Grail to provide me knowledge about the Heroic Spirits should I figure out their true identities. All in all, I was screwed. I was again broken out of his thoughts by the priest when he offered to meet the King for compensation. When the two other heroes found it acceptable, they asked (read demanded) for an audience. I kept quiet and followed the Priest.

* * *

"Oh? So, these are the Heroes of Old"

A self-important old man was looking down at us with an appraising gaze. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about him made me uneasy. He was very good at concealing his emotions but I still had a semblance of guessing him. If I had to guess... it was his eyes, they were not directed at us but at the Shield Hero. They were condescendingly looking at him as if they had a grudge against him. If I had to guess, it was probably so. There's no way I could ever like somebody that looked at other people like that. Still I could not judge him and hid my emotions in my best poker face.

"I am the king of this country, Aultcray Melromarc the 32nd. Raise your heads, Heroes."

I resisted the urge to point out that none of us had our heads lowered. I wasn't an expert on courtly manner, but at the very least I knew better than to talk back to a king who could have Command Spells as his trump cards.

"Now, I shall explain the current situation. This country – nay, the very world – is on the path to ruin."

He explained the situation of the state of their world. A prophecy existed which predicted the end of days. It spoke of wave after wave of calamity which would beset the lands. If nothing was done, the world itself would fall into ruin.

And, the year of the prophecy had finally come. The sands of the ancient Dragon's Hourglass had begun to run once more. According to legend, the Dragon's Hourglass was supposed to serve as a monthly warning system for the Wave of Calamity. At first the people had written it off as mere superstition. However, disaster struck the instant the final grain of sand fell, just as the legend said.

A dimensional fissure appeared over Melromarc, and a vast horde of monsters spilled out from within. Though the country's knights and adventurers just barely managed to subdue them, the next wave was expected to be even stronger. There was no way they would be able to stop the calamity a second time. And so, the leaders of the country decided to enact the ancient summoning of Heroes, in hopes that they might be saved. I was also told that the ability to speak the language of this world was because of my weapon, the **[Legendary Holy Sword]**, a bland name that I was sure to change. The fact that such a powerful weapon has such a name was unacceptable to me. This fact had also reconfirmed a theory of mine. It was that the Holy Grail did not exist and that the king could not have command seals since the ability to translate languages was the Holy Grails job but here it was done by my blade. It still did not ease my worries of him not having a trump card.

"Uh-huh. So, you expect us to just work for free, then?"

"That's sure convenient for you."

I looked at the Spear and Bow Heroes and maintained a face of neutrality but inside I was screaming at them to stop else they bring all of us down to hell. Why were they acting so brashly? Inside I did understand though. It was greed. They were very greedy and selfish people, ones I personally was wary of. I had lived my late life as a mercenary. I had seen the worst in people. I knew how dangerous greed was. To what lengths people would go to obtain money. Should the need arise, I would put them down. My only consolation was that the Shield Hero had some sense and actually looked horrified at what they had said. He entered further into my good books.

"Of course, it goes without saying that we shall richly compensate you"

This made the two Heroes cheer and even the Shield Hero looked excited. I guess no one was safe from the clutches of greed.

"Besides that, we could also prepare discretionary funds to support you on your journey. It's a small price to pay to ensure your cooperation in saving our world."

I was relieved at that fact since I had no idea about the currency of this world. These monetary funds would go a long way and save me a lot of trouble. The king continued further.

"Now then, Heroes. Tell me your names."

The blonde Spear Hero stepped forward first. He looked confident and wanted his name to be heard all over. That was different from Gilgamesh, who would only give his name to those who were worthy, not that he was but Saber, his partner, was and had finally divulged his name to her, and by extension him.

"I'll go first then. The name's Kitamura Motoyasu, college student, 21."

It seemed too realistic to be an alias and maybe it was his true name. I could not identify his legend from his name but no he was sure they were Japanese in origin. But really, of all the covers he could choose, why College student? That didn't make sense. Well, he did look young. Well, even he entered the Throne of Heroes, and he was only 23. It was possible for him to have achieved the Throne earlier than me. Maybe he was hero in another timeline, after all according to Rin, the Throne of Heroes was independent of time and existed outside it. That meant infinite timelines and infinite Heroes that had not existed in my world. He could be a hero of the Modern Era since he knew what a college was, like me. That also meant that maybe the Age of Heroes had not ended Then the Bow Hero stepped forward.

"Oh, me now? My name is Kawasumi Itsuki. I'm a 17-year-old high-school student."

Again, a Student? He probably copied the cover and adjusted it according to his age. At this point I understood from their clothing that we all were pulled out of the Modern Age. He did seem less arrogant but had an air of superiority towards him that indicated that he thought highly of himself. Again, I was unable to figure out their legend. I could do nothing but sigh. Guess it was my turn next. There was no harm in telling my name since I was sure we were from different timelines. I stepped forward and bowed with respect.

"My name is Emiya Shirou. I am 23 years old. I work as a repairman. I am truly humbled to be in your presence, your Majesty"

It was the truth. My main job was that of a repairman and my secondary job as a mercenary even if I spent 90% of my time in the latter than the former. The others raised an eyebrow at my introduction probably because I was far more polite, even if I had no flair that people at a king's court had. I stepped back in order to let the Shield Hero introduce himself. He came forward.

"Oh, sorry. Guess I'm last. The name's Iwatani Naofumi, and I'm a 20-year-old college student."

Again, the same cover, probably a carbon copy of Motoyasu that he probably thought was appropriate for cover. But it still made me doubt my assumption. Were they Heroes? They seemed absolutely confident when introducing themselves. Confidence in lies? I didn't think so but legends had some opportunistic people, Case in point: Semiramis, the Queen of Assyria. He had the pleasure of meeting her in one of the Phony Wars after the shutdown of the Holy Grail War, on the request of Rin Tohsaka and Wizard Marshall Zelretch. I prayed for anyone who end up against her. She had earned her throne through the clever use of deceit and assassinations, a fitting candidate for the Assassin Class. I did not like her, but prayed that I never went up against her. If there was any woman that was more terrifying than Rin, it was her. I then glanced toward the king. The king's eyes were unrelentingly staring at Naofumi. The king stared at him with contemptful eyes. He shivered a little. I maintained my poker face but still was surprised on the inside. The Shield Hero had done nothing to warrant such contempt. There was definitely something fishy here. Out of all of them I had the most respect for the Shield Hero even if he seemed a little clumsy and out of place. The king spoke again.

"Hmm. Motoyasu,Itsuki and Shirou, eh?"

"...Uh, Your Majesty? What about me?"

"Oh, my. My sincerest apologies... Naofumi."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was straight up disrespectful for poor Naofumi. I wanted to protest but could not do so since it could have truly been a mistake on his part under the benefit of the doubt. This still made me think whether the king had a vendetta against the Shield Hero. The king brushed the issue off and continued.

"Now, if everybody could please confirm their statuses?"

Status? What was that. I started to look around and spotted a small icon. What? I was confused. The icon appeared at the left-hand corner of my vision. Then I heard,

"Umm... how do we do that, exactly?"

Itsuki timidly asked the king for help. He too seemed to have an inkling of understanding like me. I speculated upon seeing the icon. The icon looked highly familiar but I could not put a finger to it.

"What, you guys didn't notice it the moment you got here?"

Motoyasu seemed so smug that we could be so ignorant. The haughty, know-it-all look on his face was totally irritating. I was going to skin him someday.

"There's a sort of icon in your peripheral vision, right?"

I said that in order to save face in front of the king and not to seem too ignorant of what was happening. I quickly ignored the rest of the conversation and focused on the icon. Then a browser-like window came up in front of. So that's what it was. The icon was the cover of a game I used to play. It was called Bravestar Online, a VRMMORPG. It was quite famous and the technology it depended upon was mind-blowing for him. The story-line also seemed similar to the one of this world's. That was good. If it was even remotely similar then that meant i had information. Bravestar was game that I played a lot during dry-periods (Basically when he had no job to do). This meant I had information that would be useful in my quest to save this world. It also meant that I could do it quicker and save more lives. Such was the power of information. Magi in the Holy Grail War would sell their livers for information. Should you know the identities of the Masters and Servants, you were basically guaranteed a win. It wasn't even questionable how powerful information truly was. I shook myself out of my thoughts and focused on the screen before me.

* * *

**Emiya Shirou**

**Class: Sword Hero**

**Level: 1**

**Equipment: Small Sword (Legendary Sword), other-worldly clothes (normal), other-worldly gear (Combat-Suit), Avalon (?).**

**Skills: None**

**Magic:**

**Other-Worldly Magic:**

**Structural Analysis**

**Reinforcement**

**Projection**

**Tracing (Advanced Projection)**

**Alteration**

**Runes**

**Formal-Craft**

**Bounded-Fields**

**Reality Marble (Unlimited Blade Works) (?)**

**Current Worldly Magic:**

**Status-Magic**

* * *

This was status-magic. It presented all of my abilities in a game-like format. This was certainly interesting. The fact that I had not lost my combat-suit was a huge sigh of relief for me. But this also meant that the other, if his guess was right, the heroic spirits, still retained their equipment. This would be severely disadvantageous should their equipment come from the Age of Gods. The only good thing was that Avalon was not lost. It would be my true trump card in times of need. He had to play his cards well if he had to come out of this unscathed. It still irked him that e had no skills. This was probably another thing that was different between mine and this world. Skills probably pertained to something different than what he was thinking.

I slowly descended from my thought process into reality, however messed up it was. I patiently listened to the conversation between Motomasu and the king. Apparently, they had no idea on how to unseal the power of the Legendary Weapons. Usually, at least in the game I played, the player unsealed its power by slowly leveling up and a huge boost in power when he/she surpassed level 100. If it was different here then I had no idea what I'd do. Then Motoyasu spoke up.

"Well then, should the four of us party up?"

"Wait just a moment, Heroes."

One of the ministers of the king interrupted. Then he continued.

"The four of you are to gather companions individually, then set off on your own separate journeys."

"Oh? And why is that?", Motoyasu asked.

"It's quite simple. According to legend, the weapons you carry naturally repel each other. Should you operate together as a group, you will do nothing but impede each other's growth."

"I'm not sure I get it, but basically you're saying we can't get strong unless we work alone?"

Then a window popped in front of me.

* * *

**Caution**

**Working together with your fellow legendary weapon holders will be detrimental to your progress.**

**Please try to operate separately as much as possible.**

* * *

So, it was true. That meant we'd have to split up and fight in the Waves of Calamity. Before I could dive into my thoughts, the king spoke.

"The day grows late. For now, rest yourselves and gather your strength. Your journey begins tomorrow."

"Thank you."

"Yeah, thanks."

Leaving behind words of gratitude, I along with the rest of the Heroes relocated to the guest quarters prepared for us by the king.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Literally finished it in one sitting today. Don't have anything to say except that this is the beginning info-dump. Probably not gonna occur for a few more episodes. Next chap will be the start of the journey. Stay tuned to find out.**

**Please leave Criticism. I read the reviews and appreciate the support. Keep in mind that English is not my main language. I do not have a beta so soz for any grammatical errors.**

**Thank you for reading**


	3. Chapter 2-Relaxation in Another World

**Author's Note:**

**Yes, this is at the start of the story this time because i wanted to answer questions to some reviews. I won't mention which review since that would add to the word count and that's just cheating.**

**Q1: 'Root Comment'**

**Removed, Blame The Harry Potter Fandom.**

**Q2: 'He looks very fragile, would he even be able to pull a bow'**

**Relevant comment, will be useful in the future, trust me. Yes that is a rude comment but people are judgemental, Shirou is no exception. Just because he has an ideal doesn't mean he is exempted from the rest of human emotions. He becomes happy, angry, sad and all that jazz. Humans, by nature are and always will be judgemental hypocrites. Shirou won't be as judgmental but there are some differences between canon Shirou and mine, You'll see.i had already hinted at this fact when i gave him the Shroud of George instead of the Shroud of Martin. I guess no one got the hint. Maybe it was too subtle but ya, my fault. Besides these are just first impression. **

**Q3 'Dabbling into Reality Marbles'**

**Again, my Shirou is different from the canon ones. That question and how he got caught will be answered later, much later (that is giving me time to think on how?), Hint: Einzberns.**

**Q4: 'Reality marble Insanity'**

**Yes, i do realize that. And thinking back to it makes no sense. But then counter argument would be, Why did Kirei not develop a Reality Marble. He's even less human than Shirou. If it was a random and spontaneous phenomenon then it would make sense. But we've never been giving information on HOW exactly it develops. So, i interpreted it as: "When a human goes through a traumatic incident which strips away their humanity for a brief moment, in that moment they are given the ability to use a Reality Marble". Kiritsugu did save Shirou at the right moment and i feel Avalon did bring back his human emotions (most of them).**

**Q4: 'Travelling Companions'**

**Probably not for a while, decided on my whim (MWAHHHHHH).**

**Q5: 'Motoyasu bashing'**

**My pleasure. Guilty one but still i will try to bring change onto him. For Shirou who fought Gilgamesh, He looks and acts so similar to Gilgamesh. If anyone has read The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was very 'Evil'. Like anti-hero to villain like douche. So first impressions aren't going to be good. This might get worse.**

**Q6:'Smarter Shirou, Kind of'**

**Shirou does seem smarter because he's had experience as a mercenary. Most mercenaries were greedy people. He had seen the lengths they'd go for money. That's why he hates them. He had to stay on his toes in order to survive. He could not join the executors completely because they might find about his reality marble, an irrational fear but if you were in that situation, you'd be careful too.**

**That's it, hope that answered some questions.**

* * *

**Fate: Sword Hero**

**Chapter 2:**

**Relaxation In Another World**

As we were taken to the guest chambers, I was contemplating and digesting the information i was given, mainly the 'storyline' and 'status'. At first, I hadn't thought about it, mainly due to playing Bravestar. But now that I had a chance to sort out thoughts, I was processing it. And boy was I confused. I wasn't a proper magus to begin with and all the research he conducted revolved around his reality marble. I did not realize that at first, but HOW did status magic work. Rin was a student of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, she knew how parallel dimensions worked but he didn't even have a semblance of an idea on how they worked. I had been taught a bit in order for him to participate in her insane rituals and experiments (the first time his self-preservation skills activated). The basic gist of it was that each universe was governed by **Reality**. Reality was a System. A System was something that governed the very laws of physics as well as 'magecraft' of that universe. Sometimes magecraft didn't exist as a separate branch of the System. Sometimes Science didn't exist. His world was governed by the Reality of Gaia and Alaya. So, how would his magecraft be affected in this universe.

There was also the matter of learning the 'Magic' of this world. I had too much to digest and so little time. There was my theory about the rest being Heroic Spirits from parallel dimensions not of his own could also be true. The ritual used to call us here was connected to the calling function for Akasha and by extension, the Throne Of Heroes. But that begged the question, why did I have a normal body? It had again slipped through my mind like a lot of information but after having time to organize his thoughts, why did he not have an astral body? I, in the end gave up, there was too much to think about. For now he would evaluate his fellow heroes. He considered them as comrades in the endeavor of saving this world but he was also familiar with back-stabbing, having first-hand experience of it. He was sure they were here Heroic Spirits and if they were top-tier Heroic Spirits, then he was screwed should they fight against the best interests of this world.

I finally noticed that we had reached and the other heroes had sprawled upon the extravagant beds prepared for us. i sat down upon my bed and just blanked out. For a few moments silence had graced the room as the heroes were busy with their own thing. Then the ice was broken by Naofumi, the Shield Hero.

"Man, this is just like a game. Don't you think so too?"

"This isn't like a game but IS A game. I think I've played it before"

Motoyasu boasted.

"Eh?"

"Yeah, it's really popular. You haven't played it?"

"No! I'm a pretty big otaku myself, and I've never played anything like this."

"Seriously? But this is Emerald Online!"

"I've never even heard of that!"

"Huh? Are you really a gamer? It's super-famous."

"Sorry, the only really big online games I know about are Odin Online and Fantasy Moon Online."

"What the heck are those? This is the first I've heard of them."

"What?"

"Eh?"

"What are you all talking about? This world isn't an online game at all, it's from a console game."

"Wait, that can't be right. Isn't this a VRMMO?"

"Huh? Even assuming we've entered the world of an online game, that's still something you play with a mouse or controller, right?"

The three Heroes started conversing and fighting amongst themselves. I had already realized that we were from different timelines and universes. We had been picked off from different era's too. I was assuming that Itsuki was from a time similar to mine since he had VRMMO's. The others were probably from a time before us two.

"What do you think, Sword Hero. you've been quiet this whole time. I think you know something, don't you" said Itsuki in a confident tone.

Damn, he'd been called out. Maybe staying too quiet was not a good idea. He'd have to reveal a bit of information. The loss of this information would not be too detrimental but still information control was something I needed desperately.

"I speculate we're from entirely different worlds. While I was not an Otaku, I had invested a lot of time in a popular game in my world. It had a similar storyline to this world's 'Storyline' but a completely different name from the ones you all mentioned." replied Shirou in an even tone.

The others looked shocked at this information. Then upon further debate and upon exchanging common information like the prime minister of Japan, Winner of WW2, etc., they all accepted my theory.

"I also think that we arrived in this world under different circumstances, Right?", it was Itsuki who proposed that. I was in a hard position. I could just give out his information, especially how i died. Quickly Motoyasu stepped up and started boasting about how he died, for once i was thankful since he gave me some breathing room.

"Before I came here, I had a lot of girlfriends, you know?"

"I figured as much."

"So, you got stabbed when they figured you were two timing."

The Bow and Shield Heroes deadpanned at the Spear Hero. then the Bow Hero told his story.

"As for me, I was crossing the street on the way home from cram school, when a dump truck came barreling around the curve at full speed. After that..."

"..."

Silence permeated the room. I felt bad for Itsuki but there was no point in thinking about it. He was still alive here, somehow. It was turn to go next. I had prepared a fake story. It had some truth to it. After all the best lies are ones which had some truth hidden in it.

"I was killed by gang when I did something to piss them off."

Again there was that eerie silence then Naofumi went last.

"Uh... do I absolutely, positively have to tell mine?"

"Of course! Everybody else did, after all."

"Oh. Right. Well, if you insist... I was at the library when I noticed a strange book I had never seen before. Naturally, I picked it up and started reading it, and before I knew it I was here."

Oh, at least he didn't di… WHAT? How could he have come here if he wasn't dead. A book had pulled him here. What the HELL. A book that could use Second True Magic - The Kaleidoscope. People would sell their whole bodies to get their hands on that book. Such a book should not and could not exist. Maybe the book had killed him? That seemed far more believable than what he was hearing. Hastily he asked.

"Are you sure you didn't die?"

"Pretty sure. There was huge white light and then i was pulled here"

That was INSANE. Ok, calm down. Think rationally. Think of Saber, Think of Rin, Think of Saber, Think of the kinky three… ok that was too deep of thinking. At least he had calmed down. I saw Motoyasu and Itsuki discussing something amongst themselves and icily staring at Naofumi. I guess they were unhappy that they dies while Naofumi was just transported here with FREAKING True Magic. But this also disproved a theory of mine that the Ritual was connected to Akasha. Then How did it work? Did it just randomly pick out souls. Ok, Maybe i was panicking too soon. I glanced at Naofumi and silently observed him. Naofumi was a little unnerved and quickly changed the topic to save face.

"How about we get some food. I'm getting super hungry."

"That's fine."

"Ok"

"That seems fair"

Before we were about to leave, an attendant walked in and said.

"Honorable Heroes, we have prepared a meal for you."

We opened the door, and an attendant escorted us to the knight corps' dining hall. It was like a scene from one of the Dream Cycles of Saber when she had won a decisive victory against the Saxons. Rows of tables were packed with food, like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

"Everybody, please help yourselves to whatever you like."

"Seriously? We have to eat at the same time as the knights?"

Motoyasu grumbled under his breath.

Now that was the kind of Gilgamesh disrespect. He had heard from Lord El-Melloi II that Gilgamesh refused to even stand on the same ground as the other participants. Now he could see why he had such a strong distaste for Motoyasu at the start, it was because he was reminded about Gilgamesh far too much than he'd feel comfortable with. Motoyasu wasn't earning my respect anytime soon if he kept this up.

"No."

The attendant shook his head.

"After you've had your fill, the food here will be used at your introduction."

Hmm? As I took a closer look at the dining hall, I realized that the boisterous throngs of people filling the room were all cooks. So this was what they called "preferential treatment", huh? Apparently they intended to introduce us to the knights when we finished.

"Well then, let's eat!"

And so, we indulged in the cuisine of another world. It was a bit bland for my tastes, but there wasn't anything I couldn't eat. Though, a lot of it was bizarre. There was even one dish that looked like an omelette but tasted exactly like an orange! Now that was a recipe he needed to acquire.

After we were done, we returned to our room.

"Do you think they've got a bath here?"

"It's a medieval setting, so chances are they have outdoor washtubs."

"I'm sure they'd prepare one for us if we asked."

"Eh, that's okay. It's just one day, after all."

"That's true. Anyway, I'm tired, and we've got a big day tomorrow, so I'm gonna go ahead and hit the hay."

After hearing the Bow and Spear Hero complain, we went back into our rooms. After a while, the candles were blown out. I heard light to loud snoring coming from the other Heroes. I knew they were in deep sleep now. Looks like it was finally time to enact my plan.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Ok, I lied. Action ain't started until the next or the one after the next chapter. Sorry but i am following the Volume 1 official translation, up until this point. It will split mostly from next chapter. This chapter was mostly filler to answer some questions. I think Shirou also needed breathing room to organize and think of a plan of action. Next time is the plan which i know you can already guess, The Royal Library. It will be his experimentation grounds for his magic as well as this world's magic.**


	4. Chapter 3-Damn My E-Ranked Luck

**Author's Note:**

**After reading the reviews I realized I needed to clear up 2 things.**

**I'll try cleaning the few chapters before. Also someone in the reviews did point out a glaring plot hole that i need to fix. I'll do that before posting this chapter.**

**I should clear up what the 'Dabbling into Reality Marble' stuff actually meant.**

**So,**

**Q1: "Dabbling into Reality Marbles"**

**This just meant that he was researching his inner world. He wrote down some notes in his workshop. This Shirou had a Kind-of Magus Drive. Listen, at the start of the series we were told that Shirou was persistent to learn magecraft from his father and even after his death, he still practised a lot, to the point that he would still make make-shift circuits. So, I just gave my Shirou some curiosity to find out more about his Reality Marble which involved meditation to delve into his Reality Marble. He wrote down some of the swords that existed within his Reality Marble. He wasn't doing something illegal as human-experimentation. He was trying to lower the cost of invocation of the marble should he need to use it again. Later these notes were found by … **

**A crash clown also pointed it out also pointed it out. 'Insanity' was the only requirement given to us. But I think that it's not the only requirement. There has to be something else. I don't know what it is. But i will try improvising with what i have. And still i have no idea how one actually manifest ala Reality Marble? Practice or Realization that one actually has one? Then how does one realize that they have a Reality Marble. Meditation and actually reaching the inner world from the inside? That's what I'm leaning on.**

**Q2: 'Heroes should not know who a college student is'**

**Well, Heroes can also be from the Modern Age like EMIYA (Even if he made a deal with the devil to get it). Case Resolved.**

**I think the mistakes I'm making is that i'm making Shirou more human. More like a normal Hero. Guess i'll try to fix up that a bit.**

**Thank you for your Reviews really do appreciate them.**

* * *

**Fate: Sword Hero**

**Chapter 3:**

**Damn my E- Ranked Luck**

I had already sneaked out of the room. I had a lantern in hand, the light that guided my path towards knowledge. I was heading towards the Royal Library in the outskirts of the palace. I had seen it when I was out for a walk after dinner. I had decided to acquire more knowledge about this world the second I had entered. I hadn't met anyone trustworthy enough to ask about the situation of the world outside. So, upon seeing the library I was ecstatic. The chances that the Royal Library would provide fake or incorrect information would be close to nil. It was the best place I could conduct my Information Gathering. Also, upon the issue on how my magecraft would react in this World's System could be solved after I had some information on how this world's System actually worked. 'To walk the path of a magus, was to walk the path of death', a quote often used by father. I found it apt. Living the path of a magus meant you could be killed anytime from assassinations, Magic Crest Transplantation, or a spell gone awry. I needed to see how this world magic worked in order to know try figure the negative effects of the imposition of another magecraft from another System. With that in mind, I set for my goal.

I met a patrol guard on the way. He was quite surprised when he saw me and thought I was an intruder. He quickly apologized, though the apology was more of an incoherent mumbling in a nervous and scared tone. I told him to calm down and relax. After that I asked for directions to the Royal Library since the whole damn palace was a labyrinth and a half. The fact that I had found the library was my good luck at its finest. Literally. I didn't know why my luck had done so but I felt a bad omen. In a way my luck was probably taunting me. I did not know how but I did know I was going to find out soon and I was probably not going to like it.

I had reached the Royal Library. It was quite dusty looking but still had a sense of splendor, like the rest of the places in the palace. I slowly pushed the wooden door of the library. With a silent creek, it opened a whole new world for me to explore. The library was a bit dusty with cobwebs in the corner of the room. But still it had that air around when I visited the local library. I could smell the fresh paper, of the woody shelves, that smell I usually found in the antique shop when I visited. I could make out some magical smells. I had a weird perception of magical energy (Prana and Od). Many people could sense magical signatures perceived through their six senses. Yes, I did say six senses. People could detect energy through sight (often confused with Mystic Eyes, though that was not the case since most people who sensed Prana through sight had blurred vision and had to wear glasses), sound, touch, taste (weird but yes, I had seen this when an executor I worked with licked the ground to figure the location of a Dead Apostle that I was hunting), smell and thought. I had magic perception through the olfactory canals. I could smell the signatures of old tomes, that pleasant and Fougère scent, in the Library. Good. That was good, if I could get my hands on some, it would make my job much easier. As I entered, I gripped my Legendary Blade in my hand as a sort of identification should I need one.

I could see the thousands of books arranged neatly. Whoever the Librarian was certainly loved organisation. I was sure that the librarian would not be inside at this time of the hour. Slowly, I took a peek inside, using the door and the hazy environment as cover. Upon seeing none in sight, I walked with cautious steps through the centre of rows of bookshelves. I looked around in sheer amazement at the volume of books present here. There were books of leather, of silver and sometimes gold, scattered throughout the shelves. They far outnumbered the one at Fuyuki, no question. I resisted the urge to grab one out of the shelf immediately and start reading but I could not waste time reading the wrong kinds of books which I had no use for. Reading books was a hobby of mine. When I had nothing to do, I used to grab a book of fiction (mostly) from the shelf and spend hours on end until I finished the book completely in one sitting.

As I was walking by staring in a daze, I failed to notice a huge obstruction in my path and crashed right into it like an idiot. Guess I realized why Rin called me an idiot. As I was falling I noticed that I had crashed into a ladder. I also noticed that someone was on that ladder. And that he lost balance when I crashed into the ladder. And that he falling right my way. And….. Crap! He was falling straight on me. I did not know why my battle-honed instincts did not allow me to move away from the crash-site. I could dodge a sword that travelled faster Mach 10 (courtesy of Gilgamesh), but i could not dodge something that falling at about 4m/s (Since he was not that high, gravity could not accelerate him that much). Damn my E- Ranked luck. The man fell right on me. I swear I heard my bones crack with a comical crunch. At least this was a good opportunity to check whether Avalon still worked, Right? It felt as though I was trying to convince myself. As I was wallowing in self-despair on how bad my luck was I heard the man on top of me say.

"Damn sonny-boy, could it hurt to be a bit more careful"

I looked up towards the voice. It was the voice of an old man. He had a long beard, the longest one I had seen in my life. He had grey eyes and white hair. He looked like the typical old man that was really wise but only spoke in riddles. Ok, maybe that was mean but he did project that same feeling. But that did not matter, what did matter was that the old man was still on my back, scrunching by bones to grounded pepper. I slowly voiced these opinions.

"Could you please get off my back? Please?"

He quickly realized what situation he was in and got off me. The he realized who he was on and gasped.

"Oh! Sword Hero. I did not recognise you from up there. Here let me help you up" he pulled me on my feet and apologised. Man it just wasn't my day was it? First I get mistaken for an intruder and pounced upon and now this. I observed the man in an awkward silence. The silence that was completely foreign in a library, even though in all you could hear was silence. Even if you could not hear silence. At that very moment I felt a weird sense of Deja-vu when I said that even if I had not a single clue as to why.

* * *

**In Another Universe**

"People die when the are killed", once said a wise man atop a hill once said.

* * *

**In Another Universe**

"Just because you're correct that does not mean you are right", said a young man fighting a parallel of himself in a world that was not his yet at the same time was his.

Wait.

What?

* * *

**Back In Our Current Reality,**

"Why are you here, Sword Hero", I heard the old man. He scrutinising looked into my eyes. My radiant amber stared into his dim grey. After a few seconds I replied.

"I would like some books about how magic works in this world"

"Ah, so you want to know how the magic of our world works. Magic of our world is very fascinating. I could go one and on about how the magic of our world works. Well I have just the for that."

The old man then went over to the shelf on his left and pulled out a thick book with a leather cover and gold linings on its edges. It had a royal blue bookmark sticking out of it. It was mostly an ordinary looking book. The title was written in bold letters of gold, at a slightly higher elevation than the rest of the cover. I attempted to read the title but my eyes failed me for a second, or so I thought. What? Why I could not read the title? I then proceeded to wipe my eyes and squinted them for precision, to try and read the title. What the hell? Why did this looked like gibberish? Was this Egyptian Poetry? Then I with all my dumbfoundedness, asked one question.

"Why can I not read the title of this book."

"What… you can't read the title, it clearly says "Magic for Scrubs". I may be old and my eyes growing weak but even I can see the title clearly."

Then he seemed to pause and think for a second. He immediately realized something and spoke,

"Wait, the Legendary Weapons only translate speech and give spoken knowledge to their wielders. Maybe that is why you can't read."

What? Only spoken language. The Holy Grail provided for both spoken and written language, so why did the Legendary Weapons not do so too? I blanked for a second. The realization seemed to hit me like the truck that hit Itsuki **(Ok, That was mean. But there only for the banter)**. It made my heart stop its rapid beating with a sharp sting. I internally screamed in anguish. Curse you E- Ranked Luck.

Well at least I didn't die in every corner of the road, unlike Lancer **(Ooooooh, Shots Fired)**.

"Well I could teach you our language if you want to learn" asked the old librarian. My literal Merlin in the dark ages. Ok, maybe I did not want a Merlin for myself, if all the Dream Cycles were to be believed.

* * *

**Next Morning,**

This really wasn't my day, again, was it? It was a new day and his E- Ranked Luck was back at it again. First, upon learning could not read or write was a tragedy in itself. Upon learning that his teacher was a grammar nut was even worse. I had been grinded to a pulp when I got grammar rules wrong. Though thankfully the spoken knowledge of this world and me having the experience of learning new languages during my travels helped my case in learning how to read and write. It was almost nostalgic to me and made me reminisce past memories, of my school days. Then again, the days of my highschool were something I could never forget. It had been a new beginning for me. Up until the Holy Grail War, I was like a lifeless puppet who wanted to help others but was unable to do so efficiently. I was blind during that time but after the Grail War, I was revitalised. A part of me that I thought was dead was revived. My Humanity. I would still be far from a human but it still helped me realise what I had lost.

Then on the subject of 'magic' in this world. Magic was mostly divided into 3 categories, which were Ritual Magic, Covenant Magic and Dragon Pulse Order. Ritual Magic was basically magecraft. It revolves around a person's Origin and Element like his world but what was different was that instead of invoking it through the use of Arias and Self-Hypnosis into believing one's Mystery was real, this world used 'Divine Magic Letters' as a medium of invocation. It was like the magic of Bravestar and I had been able to learn the basics quite easily. Though basics here included only theoretical knowledge and not practical since he was still unable to invoke a 'spell'. I did understand the System of this world quite well though. This also brought a question to my mind. Was the 'Age of Gods' still active? It was thought to ponder for later.

Then the other two magic, Covenant and Dragon Pulse Order. Covenant Magic was that's performed by a group of individuals collaborating through chanting to create a powerful, typically large scale magic. The output directly correlates to the amount of magical energy. It was basically how rituals in his world works. They involved more than one person supplying magical energy to cast High-Tier Magecraft. Technically, the Holy Grail was High-Tier magecraft that was something akin to Covenant magic but involved siphoning off Ley-lines as supply sources instead of people actively inputting power. This was a cheat-code my world had discovered, since Mana was much more in Quantity and Purity under Gaia's Ley-lines. Dragon Pulse Order was the third magic. There wasn't much information on it and neither did it exist in Bravestar.

I had learned most of this at night. I was used to working overnight and did not feel the need to sleep, mostly. I had also determined that my magic would not cause too many side effects under this world's System. I hadn't been able to test it though. I was going to that this morning but I got an attendant call me in for an audience with the king. The attendant also gave me a sheath. I had specifically requested a plain sheath for my sword inorder to carry it. I knew that the sword would never lose its edge even without a sheath, but I still requested it to provide cover, so people would not immediately recognise me as a Legendary Hero. I sheathed my Legendary Sword and started walking towards the throne room.

* * *

"Welcome, Heroes"

Inside the audience chamber, twelve men and women dressed in exotic armour and other battle gear had been gathered. So, these were the help we had been told about in the banquet. In terms of levels, they were weaker than some of the guards that protected the castle. I wanted to head off alone because the mindset of an adventurer was akin to one of a mercenary. I had decided in the banquet itself that I would refuse their help because there was no reason I could trust them even if they were hand-picked by the emperor

"As promised, we have gathered companions to follow you on your journey. They are all eager to make your acquaintance."

"Excuse me your highness, I would like to make a request"

The king looked intrigued by my sudden interruption. He looked at me in the eye, curious as to what my next words would be. I took this as a cue to continue speaking further and followed,

"I request to journey alone."

My words had completely shocked the king. I could see, for a brief second, his royal persona crack. He clearly hadn't been expecting it neither did anyone else in the chamber. The other Heroes stared at me, as if I were insane, the ministers in the court had been left shell-shocked and the adventurers in the room looked astonished, never expecting someone to refuse help. There was a ghostly silence that followed my declaration, I could hear nothing, not even the fluttering of banners nor the clanking of metal. The king was the first to recover and quickly asked,

"Why do you request such a thing?"

I had already prepared an answer for such a question and spoke,

"I feel as though I would be able to work most efficiently if I were to work alone."

"Is that so?"

The king then fell to the silence. He was considering my words and was preparing an appropriate answer. After a few moments he spoke,

"I, as a king, am supposed to honour your request but the condition of our world is so perilous that should I oblige your request, I would be risking the fate of my entire kingdom."

There was nothing else I could do. I was in a much weaker position than the king. I was one of only 4 people who had a chance in saving his world. I was too valuable of an asset to lose. I still could not accept such an outcome but I suppose there were worse things that could happen and it was probably for the best. Just as I was about to give up hope and call off my request, I heard.

"Therefore, I have decided to do one thing in order to fulfill my duty as a king of my kingdom as well as a king who treats all guest above myself. I propose an offer to you. I would like you to duel one of the adventurers present here. Should you win, I shall give you the permission to journey alone but should you lose, you shall have to accept help. Are these terms fair to you, Sword Hero"

I thought about the offer. The odds were not in my favour. Most of the adventurers here were around level 8 to level 12. I was only level one. They were about 8 to 12 times 'stronger' than me. I did not know how physical ability translated to stats in the status magic but I had to take my chances. I had fought several beings way stronger than me, exponentially stronger. A few adventurers were nothing. I quickly nodded in agreement.

"Very well. I ask one of the adventurers to step forward"

One adventurer stepped forward. He held an ordinary looking spear in hand wearing chainmail as armour. He was level 12. Damn, could I not have gotten one of the weaker leveled ones. And the fact that I could not use magecraft unless I risk blowing everyone to smithereens. The odds were never in my favour, but sometimes you had to play risky to reap reward.

"Now I shall be the judge of this duel. There shall be no mortal blows. When one of the contestants is unable to fight, the duel shall be over. I request both participants to arm themselves and get ready"

We both got into position. I stared into my opponents eyes. They were filled with confidence. I could see his ambition. Should he beat me, he would be able to brag that he had defeated a 'Legendary Hero', even if I was not that strong. His spear was safely within his grasp, pointing at me. He did not have a proper battle stance and was more crude when compared to another Lancer, who once had stabbed me in the heart. At that moment, my battle instincts took control of my body, I knew what to do next.

"The duel shall begin on the count of three."

My eyes steeled themselves as I stared at my opponent searching for even the tensing of a muscle. He was relaxed. Unlike Assassin of the Grail War, he held no ferocity of a tiger on a hunt, ready to strike at any opening that presented itself. That would be his mistake, the fact that he was underestimating me.

"1"

My muscles tensed. I unsheathed my sword. The Legendary Sword in my hand shone with a dim golden light as it was removed from its cover. I was ready to pounce in a heartbeat. In complete contrast to me, my opponent was still relaxed, showing not a single change in stance. The hind-side of his spear was still on the ground. He loosened his muscles and looked at me.

"2"

He had an arrogant smirk of his face. His spear was slowly lifted off the ground. He proceeded to point it at me, a clear declaration of a challenge. I was never one to say no to a challenge. My eyes burned with fire. I had to win this duel. There was no question of losing, even if I was completely outclassed in terms of level, in terms of gear (I hadn't changed into my combat suit), and in terms of the weapon I held. But, I knew one thing. He was underestimating me, That would be my biggest advantage, without a doubt. The Legendary Sword in my hand started glowing with more intensity. I gripped its handle tightly and lowered myself into my stance. It was a stance developed by Archer, one that used to combat against opponents that were far stronger than him. It relied on false openings to lure opponents into a false sense of security and then relied on a heavy counter-attack when the opponent was close. It was a suicidal strategy, but far too effective to ignore. That was the reason I opted to use this strategy now, since my opponent was cocky enough to fall for the falso openings. Archer was very natural at presenting the openings, It looked so genuine that none could ever fathom it was a trap. Mine on the other hand were obvious when you got the hang of fighting against me. I did not have the millennia long combat experience to refine it to Archer's level, so I mixed various combat styles from the countless swords I had seen into an amalgamation of a style that I could call my own. It worked far better on dual swords but since I could not use projection, I had to make due with what I had, the Legendary Sword. I decided to use Saber's style combined with Archer's. Saber's style relied on quick, piercing and precise blows at the guard of an opponent, causing them to lose focus and disorient them and finishing off with powerful consecutive blows. Though both styles were fundamentally different from one and other, one relied on deception and the other relied on the user's own agility, instinct and strength, I was able to combine them into one form that was closely attuned to a European Two-Handed Broad Sword, like the one in my grasp. Upon deciding my plan of action, I was ready to burst into attack on command, all I needed was the next count, and which I got the very next moment.

"3. Begin the Duel"

I burst forward in a rush of adrenaline, closing the distance between me and the opponent in a matter of seconds. My opponent had clearly not expected that level of initiative and hastily brought his spear horizontally to block. Sword met Spear in a flurry of sparks. I managed to push him back quite a lot considering his superior strength. He slowly started recovering from my initial strike, regaining balance. But I could not lose this chance to attack while his guard was down. With a reignited spirit, I struck my opponent with the most strength I could garner. My slashes tried striking at every opening they could find, but all of them were blocked.

_Horizontal Slash._

_Diagonal Slash._

_Block against Sweep._

_Counter with Thrust._

_Dodge Thrust near the Liver with a Sidestep_

_Disorient with Vertical Strike at the Spear_

_Stab at the Neck_

On my continuous assault, my opponent finally realized his mistake. He wasn't fighting some newbie swordsman, he was against a seasoned veteran of combat who had experience in handling a sword. He frantically tried creating some distance between me and himself. I could not allow that. I had to manipulate the flaw in a spear's design inorder to stand a chance at victory. Spears were thrusting weapons designed for hit-and-run tactics. They were nearly useless at slashing range as they were piercing weapons with pointed edges. Master Spearsmen like Cú Chulainn had realized this and always tried creating distance between their opponents. In the first fight I had seen, the one between Saber and Lancer, Lancer never had failed to apply this. He always retreated when things got worse for him. He was a hypocrite when he said that he hated retreating, though that was his weapons fault, not his. With all that I had learned from that one brief fight of legends, I had become more skilled than even people who had experience of years on end. My opponent tried blocking against my flurry of attacks and successfully fended it momentarily, allowing him to make distance between us. He leaped back but I was able to get in a final stab, which grazed passed his neck, drawing blood.

I had drawn First Blood. The adventurer lightly touched the wound at his neck, smearing his finger with blood. He rubbed the blood between his two fingers, then he looked at me and smiled. He shook his head slowly, then he charged at me with admiration in his eyes and a renewed vigour. I braced for the incoming onslaught in a defence.

* * *

Meanwhile, the king looked with the duel with a keen eye. He had not seen such a fire since the days of his youth as the Staff Hero. These were the fires of youth, the ones that believed that they could conquer the world in a blazing inferno. They were the eyes akin his during his prime, the eyes that said to the world, '_I challenge you world, So throw the worst at me'_. The Sword Hero was definitely an enigma. He was certainly more skilled than the adventurer that he could make out. His eyes were of Steel. Forged and tempered with each strike on the battle-field. They were the eyes of a man who had seen razed battlefields. One who was honed from experience at not by talent. The king glanced at him, He had definitely earned the title of the Legendary Hero.

* * *

I was in a bad position. My opponent had finally stopped underestimating me and started utilizing his raw strength as an advantage. Though he did not have much skill. He had wasted movements, imperfect strikes and accuracy issues. He did not move much which was a fatal flaw since he would be much easier for me to pick off. His spear swipes were too wide and were slowed by air resistance. He, on several occasions, had missed me by inches on end when thrusting. He had forgotten to take into account my speed when going for strikes. So, in terms of total analysis, we were on equal terms though it did seem my speed and agility along with power had been reduced significantly probably due to me being _reset_ to level 1. That meant I had been of a higher level before I was brought to this world. This was a thought I could not compute right now since I was busy blocking the continuous assault of the adventurer. I was unable to get close to the adventurer as he was using his superior strength to keep me at bay and stopping me from getting decisive strikes though he was unable to scratch me. I realized that this was going to end in stalemate and decided to change strategy.

I leaped back with exhaustion evident from my face. I did not know why such a small exchange was sapping at my stamina so quickly but it was probably due to the nerf I had experienced. I changed my form and held my sword diagonally at my chest. The adventurer saw this as an opportunity to strike and sped forwards. He quickly thrust his spear at my heart but I deflected it with a clean but wide blow. He quickly recovered and noticed I was not defending my left hand side with my sword. Noticing this opportunity, he tried slashing at me from the left hand-side. I quickly defended by grabbing his polearm at its shaft using my left hand. This was another flaw with polearms like spears, once you got a hold of your opponent's weapon, with a good grip, you could easily disarm them regardless of strength with expert-maneuvers. There were obviously anti-grip maneuvers performed by spearsmen to combat this weakness but only people who truly understood the flaw knew how to do it. With my right hand, I uppercutted the spear with my sword with a precise blow, loosening my grip over it. The spear flew right out of his hand and was embedded shaft deep into the ground. My sword quickly found its way to the Adventurer's neck. And thus the duel was a done deal.

"Winner of this duel is the Sword Hero, Emiya Shirou."

The silence in the room continued. I had just beaten an adventurer 12 times my level. I could see everyone's reactions. Astonished to the core. But before I think anything else, I received a notification from my Legendary Sword. This was the first time I had received something directly from my sword. I knew this because ?, I just knew. It was more instinctual.

* * *

**You have received 387 experience for defeating an enemy 10 levels above your own**.

**Level Up to Level 2**

**Level Up to Level 3**

**Level Up to Level 4**

**Dueling System Unlocked**

**Unlock Criterion Met:**

**Obtain Victory in an Unofficial Duel.**

* * *

I had just leveled up to level 4. Leveling in Bravestar required lots of grinding especially late-game. Early on, it was easy but later on you would need to sometimes need to solo Wave Bosses to get satisfactory EXP in one swoop. He knew this because he had done this once, though it did require a lot of effort, time and death to understand the bosses pattern. The last one, I was not looking forward to it. I knew there were no second chances in any world. None. Probably. But I wasn't leaving that to my luck considering how horrible it was. I was snapped back to reality when I heard,

"As per the proposal, you may venture forth alone on the path of a Hero if you deem it correct. You may rest in the guest room for now."

I was so exhausted because I had been reset to Level 1 and my Stamina value had gone down. I did not know how it was possible but I guess it was due to my inclusion under this world's System. As I was escorted to a guest room to lay down and recover myself from the fight, I heard,

"Now future Heroes…."

* * *

I felt rejuvenated after that nap. The overnighter combined with the duel must have sapped a lot out of me. I napped for an hour before an attendant came in. He had informed me that the other Heroes had left for their respective journey's. He then proceeded to hand me a bag filled with a thousand Silver coins, an amount that made my jaw drop. I knew 1000 silver coins were equal to about 10 gold coins. Players in Bravestar only started with 100 silver coins. I wasn't going to refuse money when I seriously needed it even if I had to swallow my pride inorder to do so.

I felt the palace for my next destination. Any secluded area to conduct experiment with my magecraft but to do so I would need some tools. So, I set out for the marketplace. My sheathed sword in my belt, I walked towards the marketplace with the directions I was given.

* * *

As I walked through the marketplace, I was mystified with my surroundings. Wooden sign boards hung over stone streets and storefronts, and delicious smells wafted through the air. The whiff of freshly cooked stew, the fascinating aroma of magical scents and the smell of sweat and grime that reeked off the passersby going along their routine. It made me think of the days back at home, the sale days. Ah! The good old days when smelly men and women from all corners of the street came out, smashing the living hell out of me using their sweaty bodies. But it was worth the extra discount. If there was a sale going on here then I would exploit the living dreams out of it.

First things first, I needed basic safety equipment along with camping equipment. I also needed rations for the journey too. I headed to a general suppliers to get some equipment like a huge bag. Then I headed to specialized Hiking Shop to grab some strong ropes, compasses and other hiking instruments. I then went into a potion shop. It was quite amazing to see the sophisticated glass apparatuses like the ones in Rin's Workshop. I grabbed a few potions that accelerated healing and a few that buffed up the strength and agility of the user. I intended to find out the effects of the potions and possibly acquire some knowledge in brewing them if possible. Potion-Making was a field that did not rely on a person's origin which was extremely handy for someone like me who had an odd origin and element to begin with. I then proceeded to grab fresh rations that usually lasted years. Apparently the grocer used a spell on it that delayed decay and rotting which was really handy. Everything I bought was really cheap and the most expensive things I bought were the bag and the equipment to a total of 32 Silver from my money stack.

I was set for my adventure, all I needed to find was a secluded place. The most secluded place I was going to find was probably going to be deep inside the forest that lay beyond the outskirts of the city. With a destination in my head and a map in hand, I set out.

* * *

I had ventured deep into the forest and after some time of searching for a good spot, I finally found one. It was shrouded in dense undergrowth and vegetation and had a hole in the dense canopy to allow penetration of sunlight. It was deep into the jungle and I had to mark my way into uncharted territory inorder to have a way back to the city. My marks only included slashes on barks of trees in a specific pattern. The pattern could always be mistaken for claw marks of monster so it would not be likely that someone follow me into the woods. Speaking of monsters, I had run into several monsters on the way. Most were low level and weak, taking one slash to kill them. Some noteworthy ones were the **Dire Wolves, **who took two clean slashes to kill. Then there was **Alpha Wolf**, a sort-of miniboss that appeared after he killed about 10 Dire wolves, but it too was pathetically weak even if it was intimidating. Though it did give me enough Exp to level to level 5.

I geared myself for the experiments and summoned my combat-suit with a mental command. I hung an escape rope on my belt, an escape measure should an explosion hole up an opening to a ravine. I was speaking from experience, so I knew that. My Legendary Sword came in contact with the rope and quickly absorbed it. I was flabbergasted at this development as I got a notification.

**[Grappling-Sword Acquired]**

This was interesting. I looked at the description of what I had just obtained.

* * *

**[Grappling-Sword]**

**Attack Damage: 2**

**Equip Bonus:**

**Agi +1**

**[Grappling Hook]: Shoot out a grappling hook from the tip of the sword that latches onto the target or object, binding it with a weak rope. **

* * *

This was an enlightening development. Though I was quite knowledgeable in this world, I did not know much about the Legendary Hero Classes. This was because in Bravestar, classes were randomly assigned in Gacha at the beginning of the game. I of course had gotten a common class. Legendary Hero classes were the most powerful and rare classes and in the know information of Bravestar, only 4 people had ever gotten the classes. 2 got the Spear Hero class, 1 got the Bow Hero Class and the last got the Sword Hero class. None had gotten the Shield Hero class in my world. The fact that I had now gotten was phenomenal considering my abysmal luck. I had no knowledge about the weapon as a whole so this was a learning experience for me.

It looked like the Legendary Sword could absorb materials or objects and construct itself into the sword corresponding to said material. I activated the Grappling Sword and pointed at a branch with it. Upon a mental command, a rope with a hook materialized itself and shot towards the tree. The rope winded it self on the tree in a tight knot. Huh, Neat. But I had to do something before testing this sword. I dematerialized the rope and held the sword in my hands. I was first going to test bounded fields. But I first had to construct one. This was going to take a long time

* * *

**One Eternity Later,**

What Rin said, about me being better at breaking bounded fields than making them was extremely correct considering my situation. It took quite some time considering my ineptitude at them. This wasn't entirely my fault because the sun had changed it position and the hole in the canopy was basically useless. This made my job much harder. At least up till now nothing had exploded. After checking if there were any holes left in the bounded field, It was time to supply it with prana. 3. 2. 1.

Huh, nothing exploded. I had already expected my first experiment to be a failure but instead I saw a glistening dome that covered an area of 300 metres. I slowly and steadily entered the dome. It allowed me inside. It was simple detection field and a more complex anti-explosive field meshed into one.

Layering. Layering was in theory, a very simple concept but in practical, it was a different story. Layering involved super-positioning several bounded fields into one field. It required a lot of concentration and intricate bounded fields that would fit perfectly into each other. It was like making a puzzle and making the weird protrusions was like the binding between several bounded fields. Here was a simple detection bounded field grafted onto a more complex anti-explosion field that involved rune-magecraft. This was how I was able to test the potency of both Runes and Bounded Fields. But there was one thing I felt, rather the absence of one thing.

Gaia.

Gaia did not exist in this world. I felt no resistance when making the bounded field or when drawing the runes. This could only mean that Gaia did not exist. There was also the fact that this world's System did not impose any resistance on magecraft or that I was somehow exempted from the corrective influence of this world

Projection was the branch of magecraft that suffered the most under Gaia's influence. It was this very reason that made it unpopular. If Gaia did not exist then projections would never fade away. That meant any noble phantasms I make would be mine to keep and they would be infinitely closer to the originals since Gaia was no longer punching holes into it. My heart swelled up with joy. Though projection and Tracing were only tools for my goal of saving everyone, One small part of me wanted to perfect my craft and that I got this very moment. Throwing caution out the window, I quickly traced **Kanshou and Bakuya**. They appeared before me in a flash of light and fell to the ground with a metallic klink.

There was something fundamentally different about them at this moment. They felt real. They were created with a purpose of reaching the realm of Heaven. To reach the pinnacle of human creation, to reach beyond that. They were created with exquisite craftsmanship not for war or peace, not be used as weapons but to exist amongst the greatest. It was always hollow since it had no other purpose than existing. Here, it was still the same. They were still as prideless as they were in His hands. Even when I held them with purpose, they still were hollow from the inside. But here, there was something to it. I could not pinpoint as to what was different but something was different. I could only find that out after using them, so I reached out to grab them but-

ZAAAAAPPPPP

I felt a surge of electricity run through my veins, through my blood, through my whole body. I quickly dropped the twin swords. Then I looked forward to the text-box that appeared in front of me.

* * *

**Legendary Weapon Rule Violation: Contact With Unauthorized Weapon.**

**A Hero can't fight with anything other than the Legendary Weapon in his possession.**

* * *

I stared blankly at the text. Was this the Class Restriction of Legendary Hero Class? Of Course it was. Why Would it be? My luck was taunting me again. It gave me a chance to reach perfection yet it cruelly snatched it away from me in the last moment. This was Great. Fantastic. Everything in my Reality Marble was useless. The swords in them were now akin to Gems on precious jewelry, too precious to be used. Only meant to be observed but never used. They were waiting but now they were just gems on a hill of fire and steel. I let out a self-depreciating chuckle. It was just like my luck. It dangled perfection only to take it away the last second. Perfect. I felt that I was becoming Archer every second now. But there was nothing I could do about it. He was me and I was him. With a heavy sigh, I was about to head to bed and call it a day. It was already night and the chances of me reaching the city again before sunrise were zilch.

As I was about to leave, I saw a faint glow emerge from my Legendary Sword. Curiously, I concentrated at the weapon. Then it glowed with brighter intensity. I saw a white light cover the weapon. Slowly, the weapon started to change shape. I saw it split into two twin swords. They started to take shape of the Heavenly Duo. Upon taking shape, they started to fill with colour. A few moments later they were Perfect Copies of the copies I created. A window popped up.

* * *

**Weapon Copy:**

**An innate ability of Legendary Weapons that allow them to form themselves into perfect** **copies of any weapons observed of the same weapons type**

* * *

**Kanshou and Bakuya: Gān Jiàng and Mò Yé.**

**Created by Gan Jiang, a master blacksmith of the Spring and Autumn period of China. They were weapons said to have been formed from Human Sacrifice, from the sacrifice of Gan Jiang's Wife, Mo Ye. they were created without purpose. They were created for the purpose of reaching the Heavens, but failed to do so. Now, without purpose, they have become heavy yet hollow. They now exist as the pinnacle of mankind's impudence at reaching the distant stars that were never meant to be.**

**Attack Damage: 750**

**Equip Bonus:**

**Increases Magic Resistance by one stage. With proper gear, able to resist and nullify low to mid tier magic (Faust and Tzuvait).**

**Weapon Ability:**

**Natural Attraction:**

**Should one pair of the sword be lost or thrown and the other in hand, then the sword will always return to its wielder.**

**Level Restriction:**

**Level 99**

* * *

Ok, that was a lot to digest. The level restriction was insane, Level 99. They failed to reach the height of Divine Constructs, so is that why their restriction was Level 99. They were so close to reaching the height yet failed to do so.

Weapon Copy formed perfect copies? Was this the True power of Legendary Weapons? I could probably learn something from these. Now would this work with other weapons. There was a lot to ponder. Maybe this situation was salvageable in some form.

* * *

**Next Morning,**

Was it morning already? I had been up all night trying various weapons and copying them onto my Legendary Sword. Most of the stronger swords in my arsenal required me to be above level 150, which did not sound pretty. There was also the Sword Skill function which had separate energy called SP. SP was like the stored energy inside the Legendary Weapons. It replenishes automatically like magic circuits. It allows for skills, ones obtained from unlocking things? Like the one I unlocked for copying a hundred blades. Though I did not have enough SP to unleash it even once due to my low level, which was unfortunate. I had killed a lot of monsters through the night and obtained a ton of materials from them. The Legendary Weapons had a handy function that served as an inventory that allowed for storage. It was extremely handy.

I had mostly packed up and took down my bounded field. I had two options from here on out. One, I could head back to the city or two continue on forward from the jungle itself. I decided to choose the latter option because I literally had nothing else left to complete in the city. There was the option of making a waypoint in the Dragon Hourglass, I did not know how way-pointing would work in reality, so there was no point in wasting time to back-track all the way. In the cover of the trees and a compass in hand, I headed northwards.

* * *

After about three hours of walking and slaying, I had finally exited the forest. I had reached a crossroads of three paths, one that continued northwards. One that went eastward and the other westward. I did not know where to go exactly. The map in my hand showed that there were mountains in the North, and that was it. The map was very vague since this world had no proper map-making techniques like the ones the Arabs invented in my world. There was only one way to decide where to proceed onward. I looked forward and then proceeded to place my legendary weapon on its tip. I slowly let go of. It balanced on its tip for a few moments, looking as though it was deciding where to head. Then it fell with a loud klang. It fell eastward. I picked up my sword and started walking eastwards. I had no idea of what was to come but a sense of adventure filled my heart as walked into the land of the unknown.

**Omake:**

7 Ways to Die with Lancer.

Self-Suicide (Is it really called suicide if your ordered to?)

"Lancer, I order you with this Command Spell, Kill Yourself"

"Damn you Kotomine."

Lancer picks up his spear and stabbed himself in the heart.

Then in a moment of pure epic proportions, Lancer removes the spear from his heart and stabs Kotomine Kirei Vigorously. Kirei falls back in shock

"How?"

"Battle continuation, Dog (He wanted to say another word but due to the powers of Author-kun was prevented from doing so)."

2) Run over by Berker-CAR

Lancer was walking down the road. He had fishing rods in his left hand and a basket full of fish in his right. He had just come from the river with a great catch for the day. Today, he was going to feast. Then he saw a humongous car of ash black in front of him. That was all he saw.

* * *

Illya swore she heard a scream. She had to make sure that someone had not gotten hurt else she would heal them with her Magical-Girl Powers. She slowly (read: Inhumanely Fast) backed up. Then she heard another cream from the front so she drove forward. Then she heard it at the back. This continued for a few minutes until the screams stopped. Thus, she decided it was nothing and went away.

And Thus the Legacy of Horrible Driving lived on.

3) Caster's Misspent Potions in the Beer Cabinet.

"Damn, today was tiring as heck. I need a drink" said one Lancer tiredly.

He went over to the beer cabinet and saw some fancy bottle with drinks in them. He picked one up and observed the bottle from all angles. He slowly uncorked it and sniffed it. Hey, that didn't smell so bad. Shrugging, he drank it.

Then he died instantly. His body fell over, breathless. Thus, this world had lost another brave soul.

* * *

Caster was looking for her potions. They were unfinished and were meant for her Masterrrrrrrrr (The way that word was said as though there was something fishy going on, Not PG rated, so not mentioning it, said the Author-kun). She had found the cabinet where she hid them. She grabbed them and went away.

She hadn't noticed that she had just walked over Lancer's dead body.

And thus became the Life/Death of another Lancer, Forever meant to be used as a doormat.

To Be Continued…

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Took a while due to IRL trouble. I finally set up writing schedule and should be able to pump out more chapters. If i don't procrastinate.**


	5. Chapter 4-Journey

**Author's Note:**

**I do have a problem with POV's because I'm used to third person but I realized a few flaws in I and had to change to first person, so it quite confusing for me.**

**Do appreciate the criticism, you guys be helping me pass me English Exams.**

**Questionnaire Session:**

'**If Shirou determined that his magic had no ill effects, then why was he apprehensive about using it'**

**He's Shirou, he won't risk unnecessarily when lives are on the line. He knows that he was never a proper magus so his hypothesis might be untrue. During an experiment, you use safety equipment right. Cause Murphy's Law.**

'**Shirou was able to learn the readable language of this world in one night'**

**Plot Convenience. Nothing else. I would rather not deal with him trying to learn a language for several chapters. I did give the reason that he knew how to speak the language and he did have good linguistic skills as a frequent traveller. Flimsy Excuse, I know.**

'**Shirou luck should not put him in life-threatening situations'**

**Really, I feel the Luck-Stat is actually quite consistent. Especially in Fate Route, where when Archer was facing against Berserker, Moonlight gave away his position when he tried to buy time. That was bad luck and even Ilyasveil commented that the Lunar Goddess did not bless him, but since the Age of Gods had already ended and Ilya knew that, it was his Luck Stat. It hadn't killed him directly in a way but was a reason of his death, even if in the end he was going to die in the hands of Berserker but I felt that maybe he could have taken one or two more of his lives had he had better luck. This was one example of the luck stat. Lancers always die due to shitty reasons and plot devices like Karna in Fate Apocrypha. So, I concluded Luck was an important Stat. I hope who commented that this answers your question. Like literally, Chu's Gae Bolg only worked on himself. It was blocked by EMIYA using Rho Aias, Killed by Assassin before he could use it in Heaven's Feel and blocked by Arturia. Now that is prime bs luck.**

**What Shirou said that earned him the eerie of the Author was that he could listen to the silence. Can you listen to silence? No. **

**And Who said that Naofumi getting his Wrath Shield? **

**Foreshadowing. ...**

**Haven't decide on it though.**

* * *

**Fate: Sword Hero**

**Chapter 4:**

**Journey**

I was in a desert. When I decided to head eastwards, I had not realised that I would be heading to eastwards would lead me to The Great Desert. The Great Desert of Zerzura. Brazestar was a game deeply inspired and based of the Mythologies of various cultures. In Egyptian Mythology, Zerzura is said to be a city in the Sahara full of treasure with a sleeping king and queen. Here, in this world, the desert was also called the Desert of Zerzura also known in Greek Mythology as The Great Desert of Dionysus. When I asked why it was named as such, the local villagers in the village before at the outskirts of the desert had said that a mythical city existed around an oasis. Then they proceeded to laugh it off as merely rumors. Though I knew better. There was city known as Zerzura in the Desert. I had visited it in the games. But I did not know how to reach since direction in games literally meant travelling for a few minutes while following a proper map that was a reward for the First Wave but here the First Wave was already done, so I was never going to obtain that map. I was again going to have to make do with what I have.

I was going to Zerzura because I would probably level up from the perilous journey to the place. Also I did remember Zerzura selling some exclusive items that would be very useful in the long run especially should I try to learn Brewery. There were several herbs that could only be found in deserts at specific locations and were rare enough to sell for a lot. The fact that I had gotten a lot from Alpha Dire Wolf Pelt was testament to the fact that the herbs would sell for loads. They were also essential in making higher tier potions that could only be brewed by a player with the Brews-Master Class, one of the utility classes in the games. They usually acted as merchants selling to defence parties. But even they were supplied with these raw-materials by the Hired Mercenary or Adventurer Systems. But it was rarely requested for since the amount of players who unlocked this class and much less used it was a minority. But they did sell for several gold coins in bulk. It would also be extremely useful for me since the Legendary Hero Classes could use all utilitarian classes which was certainly useful considering all the support classes that were necessary for Defence against the higher tier Wave Bosses. Some examples would be the Miswak Herb that were an essential component in Full-Recovery and Active Regen Potions. So, I had decided to sell a majority of any herbs that I could find since they would eventually be converted to useful Potions that could indirectly save someone's life.

But the journey to Zerzura was one of the hardest in the game due to weather conditions. Some of the harshest of weather that prevailed around the World Map was found here. The heat rendered your thirst meter to zero within minutes of travel within the game. I did feel the urge to drink more water every passing second due to the unbearable heat but I avoided doing so. Though I knew what I would be facing and had bought hundreds of bottles of water and stored them, even they would run out if I did not regulate my thirst properly.

Then there was the problem of terrain. It was all sand as one could guess. I had to buy specialized sandals with wider surface area just to be able to walk without my foot sinking a foot deep in the sand. There were the case of violent dust storms that raged within this area though thankfully I had not encountered any yet. I could see several sand domes moving across me, a common occurence to my eyes in these past few days.

Though I had reached Level 24 in these past few days fighting- and I could see the sand dunes starting to clash together and started to slowly take form of huge sand boulders. The sand boulders then started to attach themselves to largest sand boulder amongst the bunch and started to gain sentience and formed a large golem. These things were the most obnoxious monsters I had ever come across. Even in the games they were annoying. These were **[Sand Golems]**, often found in coastal regions and deserts. They were mostly intangible hence were impossible to hurt when they were standing still. Magic was the only way one could effectively damage these beast. Though there was also another way that Melee users could damage these behemoths. When they were attacking, they had to turn their bodies tangible to attack else it would just be sand flowing past you, so they hardened their bodies for some brief moments before unleashing attacks. This meant that there was a window of opportunity to strike the golems down when they were charging their attacks.

I saw the Sand Golem turn its boulder like appendages into solid mass. It slowly charged at me and crashed its fists straight into the ground as I jumped high above and gave a gravity assisted slash straight down its arm, slicing it into two. I saw the arm detach itself from the body of the golem. It stared at me with its hollow eyes as it started to suck up sand from its surroundings and formed another arm. This was another annoying ability of the Sand Golem along with its other variants like the **[Mud Golem]** and **[Boulder Golem]**. They could suck up the materials of the same body material that lay near them and regenerate every inch of its damaged body. The only way to effectively neutralize these Golems was to destroy the **[Spirit Core]**, a gem fitted deep inside the thoracic cavity, in the place where the heart is situated. Spirit Cores were gems that were cursed and had a literal soul (**Evil Spirit**) trapped in them. After the gem was cracked, it would release the soul trapped. A basic principle to follow, it was annoying to fight golems but at least the area around the Spirit Core was Tangible most of the times the golems attacked, a flaw in the design of a golem, I guess.

The golem started to run towards me with raised fists containing the powerful might of the mass of its whole body concentrated in one attack. I raised my sword in anticipation to block. The powerful blow met my sword head on. I used the sand as a measure to avoid losing ground as well footing. I had successfully blocked the first blow but the golem's other fist had also hardened and was heading straight towards my face. My feet were firmly fitted in the sand so dodging was not an option. I could block, but then I would be stuck deeper into the sand due to the extreme force of the golem. So, the only option was to parry the blow. In a burst of power, my Legendary Weapon met the fist with a flash of a golden light. I had been able to hit the fist at an angle of elevation to perfectly parry the blow. I guess it was time to end this.

With a mental command, my Legendary Sword started to flash with a familiar white light. It started extending to ludicrous lengths. Then, with a shake of my hand, the transformation was complete. This was **[****Monohoshi Zao]**, the sword of the Nameless Assassin of Fifth Holy Grail War. It was over five shaku long, 150 centimeter, Bitchu Aoe blade. It was so long that its very name stated that it would be better to use it as a Laundry Drying Pole than a proper sword since it was too long to be effective. But Assassin had proven their hypothesis wrong. He had managed to use so effectively that even Saber was hard-pressed to defeat him and only one due to the dent on the blade itself. His Skill in a blade was unmatched and only few could ever keep up to compete with it. His swordplay was fast enough that even Saber has trouble following it through and predicting where it would land even with her **[Instinct]** Skill. He worked his sword like a hurricane, using elastic tracks to parry blows from opponents stronger and faster than himself, all while flowing toward the opponent's neck to decapitate them with certainty should he detect an opening. Each of his attacks is fatal, meant to take the opponent's life by decapitation, so it is not possible to employ a strategy like taking a strike to then overpower him during the aftermath. He struck with a curved path, a graceful arc that does not take the shortest route to the opponent, leaving them dead before they even realized it. Although it was made from mundane materials, Monohoshi still had a restriction of level of level 22. I had already reached that threshold.

The level restricting system only accounted to material, forging and all the abilities of the blade itself. But it did not ever account the skill of the wielder. It was one of the holes in the system I had discovered. I guess no one had taken into account my ability to Structurally Analyse something to the point I could read its history and be able to replicate the style of the wielder. I steeled my nerves as they received an influx of a lifetime's worth of experience in a blade. I felt my body and my sword move with more fluidity than it ever had. I looked dead at the target of my attack, the 'heart' of the golem. With a deep breath, I unleashed the ultimate attack of Assassin.

**[Tsubame Gaeshi]**

It was not a Noble Phantasm, but it has reached a similar level out of pure godlike skill. It would be unavoidable as long as there are no errors in its execution, making it a deadly technique. Though even with my ability to copy one's skill, I would never be able to execute it perfectly due to body structure difference and imperfection caused by my mind. But it would no doubt overwhelm anyone below Heroic Spirit level. It was enough to do the job here as the golem was struck with a multi-directional blow that cleaved through the very fabric of space-time striking at the same moment from different directions using the Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon, a complicated maneuver that I was barely able to comprehend to use. The golem was stuck from three sides and fell when one of the blows reached its core. It crumpled into dust and sand that blew away with the wind. I changed the form of my sword and quickly went over to suck in the gem. The gem itself was extremely valuable since it had the power to store a soul. A craft that was very close to Heaven's Feel, combined with Jewelrycraft. It was a gem that Rin would pay her entire fortune for. And I had about 20 of those. I could already imagine her reaction should she ever find out. It certainly brought back some memories. Nostalgic, but loitering around in enemy territory was always a fatal error. Especially in Sand Golem territory where you could be attacked by a horde- and I was being attacked by a horde of Sand Golems.

I saw several Sand Golems form themselves and encircle me from the outside effectively trapping me. I had lost all means of escape and my only option was to fight. Looks like this was going to be a long day. I braced myself for long fight and shook myself into my stance. An original stance used to combat unintelligent creatures since Archer's Style relied on the opponents skill to take advantage of but against monsters, it was ineffective. My style relied on taking advantage of the mindlessness of monster to mostly dodge and parry their blows and deal damage on counter-attacks but this style lowered my defence so I was much more vulnerable and could easily be back-stabbed. Though I had experienced several betrayals, my faith in humanity would never waver, hence my choice in using this style. I was once a fool and still a fool, so to speak.

One golem charged at me but I was able to dodge the blow with the skin of my teeth. Then the golem, unable to slow down crashed into another golem to its opposite end and both fell tumbling. Then another golem charged at me with brute force. I skillfully parried the blow and drove my sword through the chest of the golem, freeing it from the gem. But as I turned my attention to remaining ones, one had already reached a foots length between me and had smashed its fist straight at my chest but I blocked it in the nick of time but was thrown back several feet and had lost my footing in the sand. As I reconfigured myself, my feet sank deep into the sand. Sand was terrain I was familiar with due to my travels in Arabia but never got the hang of it. I was used to fighting in rocky and plain terrain and sometimes ice but a sandy ground was always my downfall. The 5 remaining golems stared at and advanced at a slow pace. They were certainly bulky but they were quite slow, so their attacks were easily to dodge when you weren't caught off-guard. One golem immediately accelerated forward with a faster pace but the pace was pathetically slow. I jumped over his fist and landed square on its shoulders which had hardened and quickly boosted away while stabbing my sword from its back, neutralizing it with one stab.

Two down, four more to go. Another golem raced past to attack me. They weren't really intelligent creatures so they did not know what teamwork was, else they would attempt to overwhelm me with sheer numbers and not just stand there like dolls. Well, technically they were like dolls made of sand. But that was not important. But what was important was that the golem came charging like a bull trying to body smash me. I, with the grace of a matador, avoided the attack and sliced the golem in half.

Then finally the rest started charging at once towards me. It was the perfect time to use a Skill since all their weak points had become tangible. And unleashed a skill I had.

**[One-Hundred Swords]**

A hundred swords materialized themselves and raced past the air in flurry of barrages that completely overwhelmed the remaining golems which disintegrated into sand.

That one attack had taken more than a quarter of my SP. SP was essentially the stored energy of the blade which apparently increased as I leveled up. I could also see the loosening of some seals and fraction-by-fraction the sword was unsealing itself thus increasing its gross energy as I leveled up. I could also see a major boost in power at milestones like Level 10. I slowly withdrew a bottle of water from my Legendary Weapon, chugging it down in a heart-beat. As I dropped the bottle with the remainder of my water inside my inventory, I surveyed the land before me. It was an endless expanse of sand everywhere in all directions. I could see water in the distance but it probably hallucinations caused by the intense heat. From the position of the sun I could tell it was high noon, which was not good. Not only did I have limited time-frame before the night would hit, but also that I was close to running low on water. I had bought about one hundred water bottles before I entered the desert, but now I barely had 20. I really needed to find the city or an oasis or I was going to be in serious trouble.

I did not know where to head exactly. I had a rough idea that the way to enter the city was slightly northwards from the centre of the desert but I did not know where the centre actually was. I did not have good spatial awareness to know where I was headed but I had written down the directions I had headed in a notebook but it was only a little useful. According to the direction I had followed up until now, I should be heading north-west to reach the centre. Looks like it would take another day or two

* * *

It was night-time and the temperature had dropped several degrees and it was freezing outside but luckily I had found an oasis which was a perfect pitstop. I had refilled all my empty bottles and set up my tent and a simple detection bounded field around the oasis. It was mostly a safe spot for. I was able to cut down a palm tree near the oasis and was able to obtain firewood for the night. If I had some marshmallows, it would certainly provide a camping-esque feel. In middle of the desert.

Looks like the desert had amplified my dry humour thousand folds. Not that I had much to begin with in that department. I looked to overhead to see the thousands of stars that glittered in the sky. My ideals were like those stars above. Unreachable, even if I tried, sweat blood and broke my bones or my gave life, my ideals would always be left unfinished. Even if I managed to save everyone on one day, people would still sie the next day. It was the unfortunate truth. Reality was cruel, but it was the way of life. Something no had been able to avoid. We always had a limited time on this Earth, some left a mark, while others blended in the shadows.I was perfectly content in my role. I did not need to be recognised as a Hero. the titles that had been bestowed upon me in my previous life were always meaningless, they held nothing for me, I held no pride, I deserved no recognition for my merits, for maybe I did not deserve to survive but in the end I had. So, maybe it was my duty to do the same for others.

It was quite late and if I did not sleep early, I would not wake up early enough and would burn daylight unnecessarily. I took one last glance into the pool of water in front of me. The sky was completely imprinted onto the surface of the lake, glimmering with moonshine as it swayed with the occasional breeze. It really was a beautiful night. As I took in one last breath of the cold air of the night, I returned to my tent for a good night's sleep.

* * *

How had I gotten myself in this situation?

I was currently in a huge pit with a vortex of sand trying to suck me in. In the eye of the sand vortex was a huge beetle-like insect. It had a robust fusiform body, a very plump abdomen, large square flattened head which held enormous sickle like jaws with several hollow and sharp projections. This was the **[Ant Lion]**. It was a rare beast that rarely popped up but it was extremely dangerous as well. It had a dangerous trap ability of **[Sand Vortex] **which formed a huge depression that sucked everything that entered within the vicinity too close to it. After a prey was caught in the trap, the Ant Lion would rear its head along with its menacing jaw like projections pulling the prey to it centre and killing it by decapitation or suffocation. They were extremely dangerous and team tactics usually proved ineffective. Magic was ineffective because of its thick armour which could be pierced by slashing or thrusting weapons. But to use melee weapons, one would need to voluntarily enter the trap. It could only be escaped if you killed the Ant Lion or had high enough speed to overpower the slowness effect.

I had been caught off-guard when the sand underneath me had transformed into the deadly sand trap. I knew I couldn't escape it but to slow down my decent and untimely end, I used one of a pair of dual swords to grip onto the walls of the trap. The Ant Lion was snapping its jaws and slowly moving towards me to latch onto my legs. I was able to evade the first lunge and deflected the second but lost my footing and was slipping faster in the sand. If I switched my swords, then I would lose my ground and slowly slip and fall. What I had to do was to daze the Ant Lion. If the Ant Lion was dazed then the sand vortex would stop momentarily, enough time for me to change weapons and gain footing. I slowly but surely baited the Ant Lion with one of my legs. The Ant Lion fell to my provocations and lunged at my leg but I had swiftly lifted my leg over and stomped it jaws. It fell crashing down and my sword was removed from the ground and used to slash at its armoured head. I heard a crack when my blade made contact with the exoskeleton of the Ant Lion.

The Ant Lion had been completely dazed and the sand vortex stopped abruptly. I quickly used this opportunity to switch to Assassin's Blade. The blades length would come in handy for attacking while maintaining distance. Which was exactly what I needed. The Ant Lion had already recovered from my assault and stared at me with its menacing red eyes in fury. It quickly lunged at me with an intention of grabbing my lower body and using its strength to rip my body in half. I was able to block the attack but a flurry of lunges followed from then on.

_Block at Lower Left._

_Block at Lower Right._

_Parry the Slice Attack._

_Counter with Stab._

_Slash at Right Centre._

_Double Deflect Pincer Attack._

_Sword Bash at Skull._

It was all like a cycle. But with repetition, I was losing ground and Ant Lion was at closer range to execute its pincer attacks. Its pincer attacks were the most dangerous since they could easily slice me in half. I could not use Assassin's trump card either because the fight was not on level ground. To execute Tsubame Gaeshi, one needed to be on plain level ground for accurate connection with the opponent's head for decapitation. And neither did the Ant Lion give me any more breathing room since it was relentless with its attacks. One attack finally connected to my lower knee as it gave a large gash up till my thighs. Fresh red blood was oozing with a translucent glow as Avalon was quickly patching up the wound, and within seconds it was healed. For some reason, Avalon worked far more faster in this world. I could not find out as to why, but maybe it was due to the absence of Gaia but Avalon was independent of it. It was the entire Realm of the Fae within one scabbard, so it was a Divine Mystery, an entire world, that could not be influenced by my world. Though it could be due to this world's System affecting it because it was much more potent as it did not waste energy countering all magecraft. But this was not the time to hypothesize as the Ant Lion again swung in for an attack but this was countered by the Shroud of George as a small green protective shield appeared. It was apparently the latent ability of the cloak according to the Status Magic, one which completely blocked lower level attacks. But the time of activation was unusual as it only deflected at certain times, of which the conditions of activations were not known to me. But this activation had occurred at a crucial time when I really required physical and mental stability to fight against this creature. It again stared at me with perplexion as it did not understand how I was unharmed.

That brief trance of the beast had provided me with an excellent idea. Excellent by my standards and suicidal by Rin's. I carefully entered a little closer to the Ant Lion inside its trap. It noticed this and immediately lunged at me trapping me in its mighty jaws. With a flash of my thoughts, my sword quickly retracted into two small dual stabbing knife. I stabbed both the knives deep in its eyes. As my daggers were removed from its pupils, black sludge leaked out of them as the Ant Lion screamed in plain. Noticing the stopping of the sand vortex, I swiftly switched to the base form of my Legendary Blade and in a powerful arc, I sliced the Ant Lion in half at the very crack I had made in the start of the battle. It stopped its struggling legs after a few moments and lay dead on its back. The fight was over as a window signalled of my level up from level 28 to 29 appeared.

That was certainly an exhilarating fight, my blood was full of adrenaline and it was probably going to take a while to calm down. My nerves were on fire as the influx of information from Assassin's Blade was taking its toll. But there was that sense of accomplishment upon defeating the Ant Lion. Was this how Herakles felt when conquered each trial? But why was it so much more enjoyable than it ever had been in my world? Conquering each Servant in Grail War had its own form of relief but excitement, I had felt none when doing so. Philosophy certainly wasn't my forte and I was never going to indulge in it. But it certainly felt unique. But I was broken out of my train of thoughts by another window.

* * *

**You have unlocked [Vortex Sword (Sand)].**

**Attack Damage: 59**

**Equip Bonus:**

**Def: +20**

**Str: +14**

**Agi: -2**

**Weapon Ability:**

**Exoskeleton:**

**Provides temporary armour that is worn over equipped defensive armaments. Able to block damage upto certain extent and damage limit increases upon upgrades.**

**Current Duration: 150 seconds.**

**Sand Vortex:**

**A weaker version of a higher sword. Causes a big swirling vortex to appear around the user that suck everything trapped it in towards the centre. Gives slowness effect to all those are trapped inside. Effect is boosted on sandy terrain and radius of effect is also increased.**

**Lunge:**

**Performs a lunge when a target is trapped in a sand vortex. Lunge increases speed by 200% for a split second to cover the distance between the target and the user. Can be used on one target at a time only.**

**Level Restriction**

**27(Unlocked)**

* * *

Those were certainly useful abilities this sword had. The Sand Vortex ability was definitely the spotlight. The armour was certainly handy along with my Shroud and the lunge was also neat and could be like an acceleration boost should I need one. But the real deal was the Sand Vortex. While the sword itself was not as good as Assassin's blade, the ability to make sand vortex's at will was unique. None of the blades in my arsenal could do so. There were Noble Phantasms that could cause violent typhoons, hurricanes and whirlpools but never a sand vortex. Though was a bummer that a sword slightly lower agility but it was too small to ever be significant. It would certainly be one of my staple swords to use for a while, at least until I found its superior version.

But all that was currently unimportant. I had reached the hypothetical centre of the desert, if my directions were correct and the shape of the desert in the map was at least roughly right. I did not remember specifically how one reached the city of Zerzura but I did remember that it involved finding a temple that could be seen after a mirage was broken. It was the safety mechanism to dissuade travelers from the city. One had to specifically detect the illusion field in order to reach the temple.

Thankfully, I was like a hound at sensing magical energy. Even if there was a leak of prana from 400 mts away, I would be able to pinpoint its location with ease. It was a really useful ability I had which had been crucial when dealing with rogue Sealing Designees and Dead Apostle. And if the tingling in my nose was an indication, I was nearing my destination. I could thinly make out the lines of the bounded field. If one wanted to enter the bounded field, one had to be aware of its existence to pass through. This was mostly done by the people of the city as a countermeasure to avoid any unwanted visitors. They often traded with the outside world, they still valued their safety far more, so they came up with this strategy.

As I traced the lines of the bounded field that were lit by a green radiant light, a small gateway opened up in it. I slowly walked inside it and saw a completely different world.

In complete contrast to the barren desert that lay outside desert, inside the bounded field looked like tropical jungle. I could see the lush greenery, the colourful flowers that bloomed with a variety of shapes and the natural wildlife that graced this tropical environment. I could see a sparkling stream flow under a rocky curved bridge. Several schools of fish swam in them, each of different colours, of different species. I could see ducks dipping their necks inside the water, in search of their next meal. Birds sang their melodious chirps in flight as they soared above the reservoir. One of them sat on the timber that floated downstream and stared into the crystal-clear water.

As I walked over the stone bridge, I took in the panoramic view of the gateway to the city. It probably spanned over kilometers of land yet was so hidden that only some could ever find it. Down below me ran the broad stream, pouring gently out from its narrow pools amongst the cold stones, spreading into colder shallows, lit by kingfishers. I could see the great turtles that lay motionless on the banks of the stream. As I squatted down and slowly touched the surface of the water, I felt the surreal feeling of the cold water running down my skin. I took a palmful of water and slowly sipped it down. I could taste the rich minerals that lay within it, tingeing it with a slightly sweet taste. It was the taste of nature, one that I had forgotten in the dark polluted cities that I usually dwelled inside. Had it been that long since I had tasted water so pure. Untouched and Untainted by the hands of man, it had a taste I could never recreate even if I had worked as a master chef, whose culinary skills had surpassed everything, even salvation, or so Rin had told me.

As I looked forward towards the entrance of the temple, I could see the massive rectangular archway that stood before it. The archway was made of polished sandstone lined with thin veils of gold that separated each brick. In the centre of each brick was an embedded gemstone of several different types like rubies, sapphires, aquamarines, amethysts, diamonds, emeralds and so many more I could not recognize. The archway itself was over 70 feet high and 40 feet wide. The sheer cost of making this archway would be astronomically high in my world. It was certainly a fancy way to invite visitors.

The temple itself was far humbler than the archway. It too was made of polished sandstone lined with light touches of silver. It had a translucent green glow that engulfed its entire body. It was an anti-attack bounded field, a powerful one at that. On top of the temple was a large diamond embedded onto a pedestal proudly glittering as light fell onto it creating a mini rainbow due to the refraction of said light. In the entrance to the temple stood two statues guarding its entrance. They closely resembled the statues of Anubis, the Gatekeeper of the Realm of the Dead. There red eyes stared into your very soul, the mouth was always in that evil bony smile and the scepters in their hands were enchanted and imbued with magic, probably to defend against attacks and act as golems forbidding anyone from entering. They had the intimidation factor checked and hit on the mark. They obviously were not as strong as the actual God of Death of Egypt, but they looked potent enough to give me a run for my money if they were in my world.

My hand ran across the walls of the corridor of the temple. Each was engraved with several varieties of symbols that resembled hieroglyphics. I could recognize a few like the Eye of Horus but there were different symbols that were unique to this world. The walls had a rich and saturated history from what I could tell. Each symbol was uniquely designed to capture the attention of the viewer. Each told a different story. Each had been created with a purpose. It was what made it beautiful in my eyes. For some it would just be drawings carved by a child on a wall, but for me it was way more than that. To me, it was telling a legend, of heroes, of their journeys, of their labour, of their rewards but more importantly of their sacrifices. Some had given their entire lives in the service of people, and they would forever have my respect.

As I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, I knew I had reached the end of the corridor, and into the main room. And as I entered, a blinding light appeared and I had to shield my eyes from it. As the light died down, I was able to open my eyes to see a large enclosed room with an altar. On that altar stood pink crystals, perfectly cut with oblique edges and shone with a bright pink light. I climbed a flight of stairs to reach the altar. The crystals were deeply embedded within the altar. I used my Status Magic to figure out its origin because it was far more convenient than my Structural Analysis.

* * *

**Teleportation Crystals:**

**A rare form of crystal that occurs naturally. When touched, allows the user to be transported to a predetermined location instantaneously. Each crystal can be used once per hour to transport upto 5 people at once.**

* * *

This world had again managed to surprise me. A crystal that allowed for Teleportation. Teleportation was one step below True Magics and was a form of magecraft that could only exist during the Age of Gods. The true art of teleportation was lost to modern magecraft, and probably could not be performed practically even if one were to discover how to do it. And in this world, it could be done by a crystal. And to top it all off, it was naturally occurring even if it was rare. It was something Rin would, again, pay a fortune for.

As I examined the crystal, I noticed one shard that had fallen off the crystal. I lightly tapped it with my Legendary Weapon. Then my Sword immediately began to absorb it inside like a vacuum. Then I received another window.

* * *

**You have unlocked [Sword of Instantaneous Teleportation].**

**Attack Damage: 0**

**Equip Bonus: None.**

**Weapon Ability:**

**Greater Teleportation:**

**Allows for Teleportation of great distances. Can only be used to places that are already visited. Can bring alongside the user 3 other party members. This number increases with Milestone Level Ups. Cannot be used when stuck in [Combat Situation]. Cooldown of 2 hours after use. Cooldown reduces with Milestone Level Ups.**

* * *

Was this how Way-Pointing worked? This was interesting. Way-Pointing in the game had no limit on party members nor the cooldown effect. This did bring a point to my head. Different items would probably have some limiters placed onto them, from the looks of it. There were some downright broken items in Bravestar, but here they may be a little debuffed. Then was the question of how exactly did the Teleport Sword work? It seemed the world knew my question and answered with a window.

* * *

**By performing a special action(absorbing way-point crystals), You have discovered a Way-Point. **

**Way-Point: Zerzula City, the City of the Desert.**

**You may now create wormholes to the destination of your choosing so long as you have already visited it. You may call out the name while slashing your weapon downwards to create the wormhole.**

* * *

Looks like it was time to test this feature out. I equipped the Sword of Instantaneous Teleportation and called out the name of the only way-point I had discovered.

"City of Zerzula"

And with a clean motion of my slash, a hole in space-time opened itself. The weird light that came out of the hole gave it a sci-fi vibe to it. It was as though it was ripped straight from a comic book. I slowly inserted my hand into the wormhole to see if it would distort it in any way. After I confirmed that I could still feel my hand, I passed through the wormhole.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Took some time, I could have made this chapter larger, but I decided not to. I do have my assessments coming up, so I can't update for a while. Probably a solid two weeks, maybe three. Why Shirou won't use his magecraft will be answered next chap. Omake will be continued in next chap too. I just need to think of more ways to kill Chu. I have a pretty good idea on how to do it.**


End file.
